A maybe Numb3rs story
by skabs
Summary: Hermione is a famous author, kidnapped from LA during a book signing. Don is put on the case. The last person she called was Edward, a student from Cal Sci Charlie has worked with. Thing is, he used to be known as Harry Potter. bits and pieces.
1. Chapter 1

ok, wow... i just had this great flash and i needed to get it down. i know i don't have the ability to pull this off, but if anyone would write this story i'd be forever greatful...

harry potter vs. numb3rs.

the war is over, but some extremist groups are still after harry. he's been put into a kind of relocation program that is run by the americans (don't know why yet, but it could be, he lost his magic, or the atmosphere in britain is just not conductive to a healthy life... i dunno). he ends up as a student at cal sci, and somehow these extremist groups find him. because of a murder, or a kidnapping (perhaps of hermione or a weasely or someone who ties back to harry) don has to ask him questions. while he's there harry gets a call from the group and he starts yelling into the phone that if anything happens to him/her/them, they'll find out just why he's who he is... which leaves don with a lot of questions... ect...

so, i haven't really gotten into any plot, i don't know whos doing what or why, but this thought came to me when i was randomly wondering who would win in a mud wrestling match?

charlie? or harry? i even had a bunch of cal sci students in my head weighing the pros and cons. there's "something" about harry that makes them all think he's not quite as bland as he pretends to be, and charlie's got some fbi training that he picks up from his brother... but they all agree that half-naked harry and charlie would look absolutely delish convered in mud... yeah. i'm a geek and i have a problem. but please!! if anybody picks this idea up, let me know!! - 06/24/08-- 2:56pm

* * *

I wrote the following at work, basically just going over things in my head, about motive and opportunity... Hermione has been kidnapped. She was in LA for a book signing and she was supposed to meet Harry, who is now being called Edward, for lunch. While waiting to meet him, she gets kidnapped and knocked out, shoved into a van and most of LA sees this. She is a very popular author, so the FBI gets the case right away. Don gets the cell phone logs, and notices a name on them. The last person she called was Edward. So he goes down to the campus to see if Charlie could help him find Edward, they're working on somthing computerese and Charlie had praised his student from time to time in Dons hearing.

so when i got home i wrote the following scene, just jotted the entire thing down on paper... i was thinking originally, see the note above, that i wanted to hand this off to someone, but i find myself fasinated by the fights and personal relationships that could occur. so i was thinking that maybe if i found someone to help me with the rest, cause it's really up in the air, maybe someone would like to collaborate with me?

anyway, either or, enjoy the following, because i'm going to keep posting these things as they come to me. 06/25/08-- 1:05am

Disclaimer, Harry Potter and Numb3rs do not belong to me.

* * *

"Why aren't you angry Edward? Your friend has been kidnapped. She's being held for an unspecified ransom, that apparently only you can provide, and you haven't reacted at all." Don paused, waiting patiently for a flick, a twitch, anything to tell him where this kids head was.

The boy just stared at him and took a breath, opening his mouth to say something, but he paused, bit his bottom lip and leaned back in his chair. He placed his hands carefully on the table in front of him, they were shaking slightly, and nodded carefully as if just figuring something out. Charlie did that often when something had just occured to him, a brilliant flash of insight.

"Anyone can become angry," he said. His green eyes flickered under heavy black bangs, from Don to Megan, back to Don. "That's easy. But to become angry with the right person to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way?" his voice was soft, insistent as he leaned forward, intense. "That's not so easy. Her- Helene told me that, well, her and Aristotle apparently." He scoffed a bit and sank back into the chair, "I'm not angry with you Agent Eppes, so i'm not going to waste my anger here."

Don watched as Edward raised his hand to his mouth, brushing absently at his lips as if trying to get rid of some bad taste.

"But, if you're that worried about me, I can assure you I'm barely choking back that rage," he smirked down at his shaking hand. "If one curly hair on her head is harmed, you won't have bad guys to worry about, 'cause you'll never find their bodies." He pushed back his chair and rose, swinging his bag on his shoulder. And just like that the affable smile was back, the carefree college student was slouched in just such a way that made him seem entirely unassuming. He pushed the chair back to the table and took a breath, "now if you'll excuse me, I have a class."

Megan watched Edward walk away, nodding to students he passed, then offering to carry a girls books to the class they apparently took together. She smiled up at him and he nodded at her question, and before long they were out of sight. She looked over at Don and tried to think of something to say.

"Anything?" he asked, completely mystified by what had happened. One second he's the goofy kid Charlie said had some potential in computer programing, the next...

"Well, I can tell you that he was completely serious, and that he seriously creeped me out." She offered.

Don nodded, there was more to Edward Harrison Potts than met the eye.

* * *


	2. Chapter 2

so, like i said last chapter, i've just been getting these random flashes... i acctually spent my entire day off sleeping, and once i woke up i typed out this. by the way, sleeping until 9pm can really throw you off, i don't recommend it. i know that this chapter would be close to the start, which is why i went back and added general descriptions, but i would like to point out, that no matter how charlie can make those connections harry is NOT a relative of theirs... he's just got that same look. minus harry's green eyes and charlie's impressive schnoz... which i think is ridiculously cute... anyway, enjoy. 06/26/08 2:30am

* * *

Charles Eppes, or Charlie as most folks called him, could hardly keep a smile to himself as he swung into Larry's office

Dr. Charles Eppes, or Charlie as most folks called him, could hardly keep a smile to himself as he swung into Larry's office. Larry was sitting in a plush recliner by the tall windows that opened out into the Quad. The recliner had been broken for almost four years, ever since they used it to "demonstrate" angles and springs to Larry's freshman Intro to Physics course. The administration had asked them never to use that particular demonstration again, and it seemed they were still picking carbon fragments and tufts of hair from the buildings air ducts. So considering the dilapidated angle the chair was now permanently locked in, perhaps sitting wasn't an accurate description. He was more… sprawled. His light orange hair was in its habitually messy state of short curls and random spikes, his large Hawaiian shirt hung on his frame and the stains on his well worn jeans looked like he'd spilled the secrets of the universe on the knees and they'd just stuck around cause they thought he was neat. He had a sandwich resting, half eaten, on his stomach while his hands did some maneuver to exclaim a point that made him look like he had no wrist bones at all.

"Why," he asked in his searching tone, "Why would you automatically assume that magic cannot be quantifiable?"

Charlie held on to his tongue. Normally in any discussion that applied the words "magic", "psychic", or "paranormal", he would be the first to protest and steer the conversation onto things that actually exist. But now, after listening to the debates for a few weeks, he found himself interested despite the subject matter.

Eddie sat, leaning against the window ledge, fiddling with some little nick-knack that Larry had picked up somewhere. If Charlie didn't know any better he would wonder if his parents had had another child after his emergence into the world. The kids hair was like a messy cross between his own long curly mane and his older brothers straight business cut. His face was tanned, as he'd taken advantage of the Californian sun in the past few weeks to get rid of a pasty British pallor so that, again, his complexion was between Don's "office" tan and Charlie's "walking" tan. He was right in the middle of their heights, shorter than Don, taller than Charlie, and his way of thinking was frighteningly similar to Don's, in Charlie's experience.

He'd watched the kid figure out a complex problem he'd had in his equation by finding out that Charlie had forgotten to carry a 2 to the right place. When asked he'd just shrugged and said it "felt like something was missing". And that followed to the smirk that crossed his lips, which at times reminded him of when Don had just gotten away with something, and no one could cross him. In fact, it reminded Charlie of the last time he'd slapped his FBI issue handcuffs on the last serial killer/pedophile/arsonist he'd arrested. The smile said he was completely confident in what he was doing, saying, or even just thinking. It was slightly alarming to note it on the nineteen year olds face at the moment.

"Think of it like this Professor," the kid got up from the window sill and brushed his thick bangs from his eyes; the deep emerald color of his irises caught the light from the window and flashed briefly. "In all your reading and measuring, you know what happens to runners right, when they get tired, but suddenly have the energy and the ability to keep running hard?"

"Second wind," Charlie entered the room and sat down on the edge of Larry's cluttered desk.

"Right!" He was excited now, his hands waving around like he was trying to pluck the right words and analogies from thin air. "Well, if you count magic as a physical talent, like running, once the body is conditioned to a certain extent than you probably could measure the ability of ones performance, how fast they were going, what strengths they could match. Then you throw in second wind, and all those measurements are useless! How do you measure that? The heart rate, the adrenaline, the ability of the mind to make minute connections to keep you on your feet, you can't really measure that!"

"I feel that I must protest, but I'm not sure what I'm protesting about…" Larry looked over at Charlie, as if searching for an answer.

Charlie just shrugged, "You know my view on the subject, I'm really not the best judge for you."

"Well, what about when mothers lift a car off their babies? That's been documented. How do you know that's just a surge of adrenaline that's helping her? The panic, emotions involved triggered something in her brain that got the adrenaline and "energy" for lack of a better word, flowing into her body, allowing her to do something inhuman! How do you explain that? My conclusion still supports that a small amount of the population can, and will, have times in their life that will allow them to do things completely out of the "norm" that can't be measured. Why can't we call this magic?"

"Because we don't even have a single living "proof" to support it!" Charlie put in randomly, just to watch them squirm.

Larry struggled a bit to get out of the dilapidated seat cushion and forgot the sandwich that had been resting on his stomach as it fell to the floor. "No, no, there have been documented claims and studies done in academia…"

"Which can be attributed to hoaxes and rules of averages…"

"That psychic that helped Don with a case that one time…"

"I'm still not convinced," Charlie smirked and brought up the one thing about that case Larry had to concede. "He used his glasses lenses to read every cards color. That was trickery pure and simple."

"You guys are hilarious."

"Yes, yes Eddie, I suppose we are…" Larry waved his next objections out of the way as Eddie smirked at them both. He loved it when Charlie wound Larry up like that. Larry was always interesting in a rant.

"But I've got a class to get to," he plucked his backpack from behind Larry's desk and waved on his way out the door. "I'll see you around."

"Next Thursday we'll be doing a demonstration on fluid dynamics for an elementary crowd. Interested?" Larry asked, then smirked at the pause of the young mans stride. They had him. Eddie nodded and waved his hand without turning around.

"Later!"

That was another thing Charlie had noticed about the young Computer Sciences student. He never missed a demonstration of what the world was like. He attended, ghosted around every lower level exhibition like he'd never seen them before. Like he knew the principals, which was obvious or he'd never have graduated high school, but he'd never seen them practically used… or in some cases, especially when it involved Larry and Charlie together, impractically.

He threw himself into learning, picking things up so rapidly that if Charlie wasn't a steadfast objector to magic in general, he'd have thought the boy had some sort of extra ability to learn. It wasn't a prodigy's talent, like Charlie had been, you tended to notice that type when you were one, but it was like he'd never had the opportunity to really experience random things. And they were random things that Charlie realized he'd taken for granted. Now some things could come from the fact that he was from the UK, but others…

"Did you see how excited he was the other day about the fountain drinks?" Charlie wondered. Eddie had been taken to the cafeteria for the first time, and he'd marveled over the soda fountain machine. He'd asked how it was made, how the liquids mixed, how the tubes followed precise schematics… then he learned about surface tension and insisted that Charlie show him the Mentos and Diet Coke trick.

"It was rather refreshing to advance such an eager mind," Larry reminisced. That Mentos trick was one of his favorites.

"Sometimes I wonder… has he ever told you anything about his home life? I mean, I must have started to ask him about his family a dozen times, but he keeps on redirecting the conversation and I end up raving about Don for thirty minutes."

"I told him about my Aunt Agatha…" both men paused, pictured, shuddered.

"He did mention last week that he wouldn't be around to help with the computer game I'm messing around with next Sunday," Charlie mused.

"Yes, he told me he's meeting with an old friend for lunch. She's rather elusive, apparently." Larry wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. Charlie knew he was referring to his own "elusive" relationship, but he felt it time to sever the older mans thought process. And if he did it right, he'd get a flustered and blushing Fleinhardt in no time flat.

"So, how's Megan?"

Larry shut his mouth with a snap, his cheeks blushing all the way up his face.

How's that for scientific theory?

* * *

and also, like i've pointed out before, if i were to make this an official story, i'd need help with theorys and stuff like that. just so i'd get realistic character studies. i think i did rather well this time, but i know it could be alot better.


	3. Chapter 3

Very, very short again, but explains some back story, BOOMrobotdog acctually got the basic idea right in his review, harry's education was very static, but he CAN apply himself if he is interested enough, we've seen that for certain. so just again, HarryEdward (or Eddie) and HermioneHelene (no last name yet). I had a great customer at work today, the only thing he said was "Dude" to varying degrees. I just had to include him (or at least that element of him) enjoy.

Harry Potter and Numb3rs do not belong to me.

* * *

Edward let out a deep sigh and collapsed onto his bed, flinging his book bag against the wall in a half-hearted slump. He stared up at the ceiling, at the posters of various celebrities urging children to read, and forced himself to relax into the well-worn mattress. He remembered his roommates irritated questions about the posters, then the awkward silence that resulted in the answer.

"Reading saved my life," he said again, just to hear it out loud. Hermione, no Helene, he had to remember that, would have laughed out loud at that statement. At least, she would have before he'd let her in on the dirty little secret.

The library, when he was a child, was often the only place he could go to without getting a beating. If he went to the park, Dudley would jump on him. The grocer believed his aunt and uncle when they told him that Harry would steal anything if he let the child into his store. So did the bookstore and the sporting goods store. Those were the only places a child's young legs could take him, until he found the library.

He doubted his aunt and uncle knew there was a library there, it was a bit out of the normal paths, and if his cousin knew about it there was no way that fat tub of lard would dare let his friends think he was a geek by stepping foot into the place. So he'd started reading and never stopped.

The librarians noticed him coming in every day, and they were probably the reason he hadn't starved to death by the time he was ten, they brought him sandwiches and milk, cookies and vegetables. Then when his Hogwarts letter came…

Trudy told him that learning magic was all well and good, but what about if he didn't want to do anything magical for the rest of his life? She helped him complete "normal" school during the summer, and tested him on every book he could lay his hands on, being a library it was fairly easy to get books on just about everything.

After the defeat of Voldemort and his subsequent fame had exploded in his face yet again, he decided that he was going to take Hermione's advice…

"Dude!" Patrick swung the door open and kicked Edward's bed frame with a pointed anger that Edward knew had to be his fault. You grow up with that attitude all around you, you learned to recognize and deal with it quickly.

"What'd I do?" one advantage, he'd learned, to dealing with a room mate vs. family, you could be a hell of a lot more belligerent and still get away with it.

"You were supposed to meet me at the bridge!" Patrick shook his skateboard at his friend and flung his long blond ponytail back over his shoulder, his wide blue eyes pointed.

"Shit, man, sorry… I got caught up with Prof-"

"Fleinhardt again? Dude…" Patrick warned in his southern California drawl.

"I know, he's weird, but he's very interesting too."

"Interesting like a tumor in the brain," he scoffed, then rethought his statement. "Actually, I kinda see it, but seriously dude!"

"It doesn't matter, she wouldn't fall for your trick anyway."

"Who?"

"Amita… I know you've got a humongo crush man, but seriously, spoken for." Harry smirked. Patrick had been skating past the bridge that Professor Ramanujan used to get from her class to Dr. Eppe's office, trying more difficult tricks every time he saw her. Unfortunately she never seemed to notice. Edward was supposed to come for moral support, and to call out how "awesome" that last trick was, to bring attention to his roommate.

"Who?" Patrick flung himself down on his own mattress and kicked the cd player on the desk at the foot of the bed. Edward had no clue how he did that, as the music blared into being, Patrick had just smirked, said "heeeeeey", and then raved about a guy called "the Fonz" for half an hour.

"Eppes," he smirked at the incredulously gaping open mouth. "Truth, I swear."

"No fair!"

"I think it's the hair, to tell you the truth. I walked into his office the other week and her hands were all over his skull…" he couldn't help but twist the knife in a little deeper.

"Bite me." Patrick moped, then remembered with a bright smile. "You could introduce me to your friend, that Helene chick…"

"No."

"But…"

"No," Edward sat straight up and glared. "I'm not hooking you up with my friend, you horn dog." And with an exasperated shake of his head tossed his pillow straight at Patrick's.

"Dude!"


	4. Chapter 4

Ok, like i've said about this before, I get flashes. This one just happens to skip the entire middle and is a little bit confusing considering that there is basically no backstory. But I figured, it's something. You might want to read it. So once again, I don't own Harry Potter or the Eppes brothers... Though I think I would make a terrific filler for a Potter/Eppes sandwich! hmmm... (ok, just ignore me. I need to get out more)

* * *

"Hermione!" The shout rang out through the warehouse. Don turned toward the voice just as the girl elbowed her kidnapper and fell to the floor. A bright blue light, laser beam of some kind, shot through the empty air and impacted on the kidnapper, flinging the man back until he hit the wall and collapsed. The two groups, FBI and the kidnappers could only pause and blink momentarily. The FBI, thankfully, regained their wits first, and their guns were up and eyes focused before the others could even think of escape. By the time they were all in cuffs the girl, the kidnapper that had been holding her, and the owner of the mysterious voice were no where to be found.

* * *

The team had split up, Megan was on Don's six, and just ducked into an alley at his signal when he heard the voices a little further down.

"Harry, do you have my wand? I dropped it outside the café," Hermione, Don supposed, asked.

"Of course," there was a rustle as something switched hands. Then there was a grunt as somebody kicked a body. There really was no other sound that was quite like it. A dull thud followed by an expelled breath.

"So, what should we do with this one?" The girl, now that Don was close enough to see, was kneeling at her kidnapper's side. The man was tied with rather comically thick ropes, so much so that he couldn't move. Harry, or Edward as Don had begun to know the kid, stood over the man with a stick, pointing it threateningly in his face.

"We should just kill him and vanish his body over the Atlantic," Harry kicked the man again.

"We could just port him to the Ministry," Hermione suggested.

"They have no proof he did anything. He'd be out in a second. He knows where I am Hermione. He'll be back and I don't want to run anymore!" Harry almost shouted, Don could hear the weariness in his voice. "I like it here." He added, softly, resigned.

Hermione stood and sighed, hugging the boy tightly.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "It was my fault. You were right, they followed me to get to you."

"No… Hermoine… that's," Harry buried his face in the girls hair and returned the embrace. "It's not that I didn't want to see you…"

Don almost relaxed, hearing this made sense after all. Harry/Edward was in some sort of trouble, the girl Helene/Hermione was an old friend, and all of this was just a misunderstanding that Don could fix within the law somehow. He knew it… But the kidnapper who had somehow managed to untie himself (and where the hell did the rope go?) was now on his feet and pointing his stick at the two teens.

"Hands up!" Don shouted to the man, startling the kids apart and making the man focus on him. The stick wavered and that same blue beam from earlier knocked him out. Don looked over and saw Harry with a stick, pointed at the man, a grimace on his face as he looked over at Don.

"I don't suppose you could ignore that?" he asked tentatively.

"No." Don replied shortly. Hermione chuckled as she stalked over to the kidnapper and waved her own stick. With a few muttered words the man was now bound hand and foot with what looked like police issue cuffs.

"Wow, Hermione… didn't know you could do that." Harry smirked, "You've obviously been practicing out of a book you never showed me." She blushed a bit and then bit out a word in what sounded like latin. Harry started giggling like mad.

"No! No…fair! No…Fair… Hermi… neeeee!"

As Harry collapsed on the ground, laughing hysterically, Hermione stood over him calmly and tapped her foot on the ground.

"Do you apologize?"

Harry nodded as well as he could. Hermione swung her stick again, causing Harry to uncurl and breath a full, deep breath appreciatively.

"Now, I am very sorry Sir, but we have to Obliviate you now," before Don could get his weapon up the girl he was supposed to be rescuing flung out her stick.

"NO!" Harry jumped up and knocked Hermione's hand away.

"Harry! What are you doing?"

"Not him! He's done nothing but help me find you. We can't." Harry grabbed Hermione's shoulders and shook her a bit. "Even when I was being a disruptive brat, he held on and helped. We can't mess around with his memory just to make us more comfortable," Harry sighed and released Hermione. "Besides, you know how I feel about those damn spells."

"Harry, I thought you said you liked it here." Don watched, not daring to move. He had no clue what was going on, but if he could piece the puzzle together correctly, the girl was talking about lobotomizing him, and Harry was telling her not to. He put all his effort at well wishing and good luck toward Harry's side.

"I do. So what we need to do is mess this moron up," Harry kicked the kidnapper again, then smirked. "I'll even let you make him think he's a chicken. How's that?"

Hermione looked down at the man, then up at Don, then back to Harry with a weak smile.

"For how long?"

* * *

so of course, thats the beginning of the ending... i don't have the least bit idea how to get from the last chapter to this one... i have a feeling it would be a pretty detailed story if i could ever really get into it... but hope you liked it! thanks for reading!


	5. Chapter 5

Hey guys… still kinda working on concept and exactly where this is all going…

But I got several good (really awesome to be blatantly honest) suggestions from a reader, hawkswench, and I figured I'd share what's going through my head. I know that this probably has plot holes the size of Texas in it, but I get frustrated when the things I know should happen don't really fit where I want to put them.

So, suggestions? I'll ask about what specifically at the end. In the meantime, Enjoy!

* * *

Edward took a deep breath and tried to stop himself from glancing at the clock again. Usually he enjoyed Professor Waldie's lectures. Practically hung on his every word, considering the fact that his lectures usually ended in an interesting demonstration… like the time he gave everyone in the class a raw egg. He had them all squeeze their eggs; which they all did tentatively, then with more pressure as the eggs didn't break. He pointed out that, because of their shapes, it was hard to exert the pressure necessary to break it while spreading the pressure around it. When you tap the egg it gives easily because all the pressure to break it is on one point.

Not only interesting and informative, but Edward had never really noticed that before. He wondered it that was why he'd never really broken. Pressure had been coming at him from all sides. Once one side was finally defeated… well, he'd run before he could break.

He stopped himself from looking up again. He was well aware that Professor Waldie was not holding his attention; and so was Professor Waldie. Thankfully the man left him alone and continued to teach his class. He could have done with a few more teachers like that back home.

When the bell rang Edward sprang to his feet and whipped out his cell phone. No new messages, even though she said she'd text when she got to the café. Maybe she was running late?

He ignored the rest of the students, barreling through the crowded hallways as he flipped open the keyboard on his phone and began furiously typing. He paused once he left the building, and sat carefully on the steps, out of anyone's way. He learned pretty early that he was pants at texting and walking at the same time, so he got away from everyone else and finished his query.

He wasn't expecting the answer that popped up in response. Instead of Helene's neat and often teasing answers what he got made him jump up and race across campus to the Math Department and Charlie Eppe's office.

* * *

As it often was when Don walked onto a crime scene, it was a mad house, a confusion of sounds and flashing lights. People talked over each other, desperate to be heard, to say "I saw this happen, and what I saw is important!" His eyes ignored the people for the moment, and took in the unholy wreck of the sidewalk café. An SUV lay on it's side, smashed into the white washed fence that had originally separated the café from the actual sidewalk, tables lay disarrayed, broken chairs and scattered entrées splattered the once pristine concrete. It was a miracle no one was hurt.

Apart from the kidnapping Don was almost ready to declare the fact that the only things the EMTs had to treat was shock a miracle. Apart from the kidnapping, of course.

From all reports the girl had put up a valiant struggle, managing to knock out one of the men and apparently bloodying the other's nose before being hustled into a different SUV and driven away. The first man was in FBI custody, he still hadn't woken up yet.

Though one of the women being treated for shock and heat exhaustion insisted that there had been lazer guns involved, the only thing they took off the man was a stocking mask and a carved wooden stick. They rounded up different eye-witness reports, took so many pictures of the scene and the tire tracks that had squeeled away, they had one of Charlie's math equations running through the city's computer grid, pulling pictures of like vehicles from traffic light camera's and security footage and trying to make a correlation, trying to give them a final destination…

"Don, just a minute!" Megan held up a hand to gain his attention. She stood in the middle of the rubble and picked up a stick. Not just any stick, but like their Perp it was highly polished and carved. This one looked more feminine. Not dainty or anything, but the flowers carved in, twined around, and felt like it was loved for a cared for. "And!" Triumphantly she held up a red cell phone. Hanging from it was a strap with glittering initials. HG.

And just as she smiled, the phone beeped an incoming text.

* * *

"I don't want to influence your opinion… I haven't even met the kid yet." Don was saying as they pulled into Cal Sci's faculty lot.

"But you're going to," Megan smirked. "You're going to tell me that Charlie likes this kid, and you want me to watch him. You want me to tell you if Charlie's trust is justified."

"I hate it when you go psycho-babble on me." Don laughed.

"I'll do my best boss," she shook her head. "I have heard about Edward from Larry, you know. He likes the kid too. Apparently he's odd in that way that genius's say indicates a "flexible mind". Then he went off on a tangent about Pluto and I completely lost the point, but you know what I mean."

"Yeah, so we go in pre-disposed to like the kid," Don shrugged. "So no bad cop, good cop. Hopefully we won't have to go into that. He might not know anything."

"Don Eppes being some-what optimistic… what is this world coming to?"

* * *

"Hey Chuck," Don walked into Charlie's office, looking around like always at the math skewed on each available surface. He didn't understand any of it, but since Charlie wasn't standing at a chalk board with a frown on his face, none of it seemed urgent.

In fact, Charlie was grading papers. It was something he rarely had the opportunity to do himself these days, but he found some down time and decided to spare his student assistant.

"Hey," Charlie grinned as he sat back, leaning somewhat precariously on the back two legs of his replacement office chair. His swivel chair had been sacrificed recently to Larry's science; he needed to find a new one. "It must be something big this time."

"Why do you say that?" Don asked as he crossed the room to look out the window. He liked the view, pretty college girls, and no equations.

"You usually send your minions down here," Charlie laughed, then blushed a little when Megan walked in, clearing his throat when she pinned him with an amused glare. "So what can I do for you?"

"That Edward Potts kid you were telling me about the other day," Don started, then hastened to explain as Charlie started to panic. "He's not hurt or in trouble, I just need to talk to him."

"Why? What did he do?" Charlie asked as he settled his chair back on the ground and stood to go to the window. Don was leaning on one side of the frame, now Charlie was leaning against the other. They framed the light coming in from the window, and Megan had to admit, it wasn't a bad image. Something about the Eppes brothers together was just strong. She recognized that it was an interesting line of thought, something she might want to pursuer later with Larry. He would probably explain something about planetary forces that would leave her reeling… but he was so cute when he was pontificating.

"He didn't do anything yet," Don handed Charlie a small cell phone. "The last number that our kidnapped girl called was an Edward Potts. He sent a text message when we found the phone, and all of a sudden it flashes "Unauthorized User" and powers off. We can't get it back on and we weren't able to read the message before it crapped out on us."

"That's… odd." Charlie frowned, taking the phone and pressing all the buttons, trying to reboot it.

"Yeah. And that's not all," Megan said, breaking into the Eppe's "bubble". "Apparently each of the kidnappers, and the girl it seems, had one of these." She held up the stick they'd taken from the site.

"What is it?" Charlie asked, setting the phone down and approaching Megan. She settled back, leaning on his desk as he took the stick from her. All of a sudden, as the stick left Megan's hand and settled in Charlie's a blue spark jumped. "Yow!" Charlie dropped the stick and jumped back as it clattered on the floor.

"You ok?" Don asked; his hand on his brother's shoulder the second Charlie had flinched back.

"Fine, just a bit of a shock, it was like touching a door knob after rubbing covered feet on the carpet." Charlie rubbed his wrist, still feeling a bit of an electric tingle.

He leaned down to pick it up.

"Careful," Don warned. Charlie hesitated a second, but scooped it up, this time with no reaction. "Yeah," Don backed up a bit and stuffed his thumbs in his jeans pockets. "So can you think of any technology that can recognize a user without any buttons being pushed? And what the hell is that thing?"

"I have no clue… Maybe you could ask Amita." Charlie mused as he turned the stick around in his hand. It was obviously cared for, and very pretty with the vine carvings, supple wood. Nothing about it should have carried a static charge, maybe Larry could take a look...

"So do you know where this Edward kid is?" Don asked a few moments later.

"You said the girl was kidnapped?" Charlie asked, still a bit preoccupied with the stick.

"Yeah, her name is Helene Gryff, apparently she's a big new author of children's books. She writes fantasy stuff, like dragons and wizards." Don shrugged. "We're still waiting on demands, but for all her newfound popularity, she's not that likely a target. We can't find anything about her background that raises red flags. We're wondering if this Edward kid can shine a light on the situation." That was PC enough, and shouldn't get his brother all up in arms protecting the kid.

"He was telling Larry and me that he was going to have lunch with an old friend. That's probably her. So I doubt he's on campus. Here, I'll give him a call for you." Charlie set the stick down on his desk and went to skirt around it to pull his phone from his briefcase.

"No need Proffessor" A skinny young man with a nervous smile on his lips stood framed by the doorway. Once again Megan was caught by a stray observation that made her hide a wry grin. Obviously the guy was uncomfortable, but he filled a doorway the same way the Eppes brothers framed a window. It was completely unconscious, but for that second, he owned that doorway. That space was his.

"Edward, what are you doing here?" Charlie asked as he approached the kid.

"I was going to ask for your opinion about something, but I see the subject of my query so I might as well fess up," He cleared his throat a bit nervously as he stepped into the office. "I was wondering if your brother could look into something for me, considering I went to have lunch with my friend and found the restaurant crawling with feds."

"Why didn't you stop and talk to the officers there?" Don asked, trying his best to be non-threatening.

Edward didn't want to tell him that he'd been afraid, that he just couldn't go up to a random officer; besides the fact he hadn't actually been there, so he sidestepped the question. "My friend wasn't there, and I couldn't reach her on her cell…" Which he then spotted resting on Charlie's desk. "Shit!" He rushed forward to grab it, but was stopped by the solid wall of Don's chest as he stood in between Edward and the phone. "That's her cell phone!" he tried to explain.

"So you were meeting Miss. Gryff?" Megan asked, a kind hand on his shoulder and he swiveled to her. He met her eyes for a brief moment before taking a nervous breath and nodding.

"She's not hurt, is she?" He sniffed a bit and looked up at Don. He was taken aback a bit by the very solid green in the kid's eyes. They were unusual, and something that would pop up immediately on a police report. He'd have Colby run the feature later, something about this kid wasn't adding up.

"She's been kidnapped," Don said quietly, and watched as the kids face paled dramatically.

"No, no way!" Edward's accent got thicker as he started ranting. "She can take care of herself! She can fight! She's good at raising a fuss!"

"She managed to knock out one of the kidnappers, but the guy hasn't woken up yet." Don admitted, and was a bit taken aback by the wry grin on Edwards face.

"Take me to see him, I'll wake him up."

Megan barely caught the shiver up her own spine before she showed it. For some reason that statement had been extremely creepy. Maybe it was the way Edwards tone had deepened, almost growling, a threat. He wasn't afraid to tackle his obstacles, and she had the feeling that if she were between the Perp and Edward, she'd be left dazed and confused, forgotten. She wasn't even an obstacle, she was just an inconvenience.

"No," Don's voice cut through her introspection.

"I can help," Edward stated cleanly. "I want to find her, I want to help you. And you need my help."

"What do you know?" Don asked.

"It's most likely an extremist group that broke up a few years ago. Their leader died and they couldn't hold it together any longer. It was very, I want to say hushed, but to those they affected, it was beyond obvious. You won't find anything in your databanks on them. Helene, she was friends with one of the guys who opposed them, for lack of a better term. In fact she was best friends with the guy who killed their leader." Edward licked his lips nervously and turned to face Charlie. It was easier to tell Charlie then the hard Agent in front of him.

"What were these guys called?" Megan asked.

"They called themselves Death Eaters," he smirked. "I know, sounds like a bad Saturday morning cartoon."

Don was about to ask another question when Edward's cell phone went off in his pocket. It was a haunting little ring tone; one that made Edward yank out the phone in a panic.

"Helene?" He froze as the voice on the other end was obviously not his friend. It was deeper, which was all that Megan could hear. "If you hurt her I will kill you." Edward replied to whatever the man said. It was coldly stated, but completely genuine.

The man said something else, which froze Edward's face in a stone grimace.

"Don't think you can threaten me Goyle. We went this route in school. Haven't I always come out on top?"

Edward had obviously forgotten that there was anyone else in the room, at the next riposte he growled. "I already told you Goyle, I will kill you. It's only a question of when, where, and how much you piss me off that determines how much it will hurt. Now let her go or I'll hunt you bloody."

As Charlie watched his student he could feel himself go pale. He'd never known Edward could be so scary… But he almost lost it himself as Edward pulled the phone from his ear, dropped it on the floor, the screaming on the other side so loud it rang in his eardrums. Her cries were furious, pained, more than anything. It sounded like she was being tortured, but was determined not to break.

"Stop it! STOP IT! STOP IT!" Edward screamed as he shoved his palms over his ears. Once again Megan vaguely noticed the bright blue light that had jumped from the stick to Charlie, only this time it was coating Edward's hands. The screaming cut off, and then next words were clearly heard, though none of them were standing near the cell on the floor.

"_We'll be waiting for your call_."

Edward collapsed to his knees, staring at his phone like it held the great mysteries of life. He was terrified of touching it, it seemed. Megan gently laid a hand on his shoulder and went down to her knees beside him. Without saying anything she reached out to take the cell phone, but stopped when Edward yanked her hand back.

"You don't want to touch it right now."

"Why?" Don asked.

"They did something to it, you can't touch it until I find out what, or you'll get hurt."

"Do you think they did it to her phone too?"

"No, they never called her on it. They have no connection to it, therefore they can't manipulate it."

"What are you talking about?" Don asked, though used to not really knowing what was going on in his brother's office, this was a whole different matter.

"Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you. This little demonstration might make you trust me the next time I tell you not to touch something." And with a sneer Edward reached out and lightly tapped his cell phone.

It rang again, that haunting little tune. Then it started beeping.

"Beeping is usually not good," Charlie said as he started to hide behind his desk. Megan pulled back on Edwards arm, trying to get him up so they could move away, but only managed to be shoved back just as the phone detonated.

When the smoke cleared Charlie was relived to note that though the flash had been bright, nothing in his office seemed disturbed… except for Edward.

His once shiny coal black hair was now a horrid shade of murky green. He rolled his eyes up at Charlie and shook his head.

"Don't even say it," he warned. "Goddamn Slytherins." He muttered under his breath as he got to his feet. The only evidence of his cell phone was a smoldering pile of electronic scrap in the center of Charlie's carpet.

* * *

Ok, questions. How is the confrontation between Don and Edward? Does it make sense when you're thinking about their characters? I think I've got observations down, but I'm not sure about their actual acting… hawkswench suggested that Edward get a bit magically emotional, I don't think I really pulled that off. I mean, glowing hands can be explained away, trick of the light, and I'm not sure how much I want to reveal to the FBI about the magical world at the beginning. Nothing annoys me more that a main character blurting out all their secrets at the start to someone they just met. At the same time, Harry's always been rather good at accidental magic… I got that observation from another fanfic, I can't remember which one, but it struck me as true. I mean, do other Hogwarts students still display accidental magic after first year? And green hair… it could be a fungus… I suppose? ;-P

Besides, I like the scene between Harry and Hermione and Don that I already posted and I would like to keep the integrity of that intact if at all possible.

So suggestions? And hawkswench, THANK YOU!!!! Please continue sending in observations, it helps immensely.


	6. Chapter 6

This is only an update to let you all know I haven't died yet. I'll be working on more this holiday weekend, and hopefully will have some things finished enough to post by monday. I only updated this because I had a wonderful little thought while putting up stock today and I had to write down the yanking move Harry uses on Crabbe... you'll see... :-D ... also because I got a wonderful review today and reminded me that, even though people don't read this part of a post (as evidenced by how many people have told me this story is out of order and a bit hard to follow- which i've explained several times) the parts they do read are well received. so thanks! anna you get a shout out because you used a "K" in cry instead of a "C"... I thought that was great! (as evidenced by my screenname!)

* * *

It was nothing like what you see on television, what little Edward watched tended to be cop dramas, so he went into the FBI building expecting teams of people in corners working diligently on some case or another. In reality the noise was almost worse than Cal Sci's main cafeteria. Phones were ringing, people shouting over partitions, stacks of papers were perched precariously on arms, desks, chairs, ect. Agents were rushing everywhere, stopping at cubicles to drop off clues, or get clued in, running out the door, hurrying back in, because every wasted second was another dead body. He almost found himself grinning, here were people who are getting things done, helping others, then he saw Crabbe.

The momentary elation he felt at the busy atmosphere coalesced into a hard angry rock at the pit of his stomach. If looks could kill Vincent Crabbe would be beyond dead. If there hadn't been a glass wall between them Edward would have jumped over every partition in his way to grab that fat neck and ring the truth out of him.

"Edward?" Don asked, his hand carefully on the teens shoulder. Don felt every bit the leash, he had a glimmer of an idea how the kid felt, and he couldn't let Edward kill his only lead.

"His name is Vincent Crabbe. He was in our year at school, a bigger bully only existed because he's got the brains of a retarded grapefruit with a hole in it."

"Ok then," Colby smirked as he approached. "That was new one."

"Edward Potts," he introduced himself with a hand out. The agent let loose his full smile and shook the offered hand with his own.

"Colby Granger," then he turned to Don. "We're not getting anything out of this guy. I'd hate to say it, but I don't think he knows anything."

"He knows something, if only their next hideout. They won't be there anymore, SOP, but it might lead us in the right direction." Harry avoided their questioning glances by simply watching Crabbe. "Let me in, I can talk to him, he'll tell me."

* * *

"Crabbe," Edward entered the room, glanced at the tall black man sitting across from the mountain of muscle that was Vincent Crabbe, and grabbed the front of Crabbe's shirt. Without warning he yanked, causing Crabbe's entire body to slam into the table, his nose foremost.

"Shit!" David Sinclair, the other man in the room, grabbed at Edwards fist (still holding the hoods tee-shirt) and separated the two.

"Edward!" Don stalked into the room and grabbed at the teens shoulders, pulling him almost off his feet as he put more distance between the two. "How the hell did you get away from me?"

Edward wasn't about to tell him he'd used a momentary "forget-I-ever-existed" charm. So he just shrugged.

"Where is she Crabbe?" Edward refused to be moved, and at such times most people found it hard to even want to budge him. To his ever lasting surprise Don managed to shift him a few feet away from Crabbe before giving up with a sigh and sitting down at the chair David abandoned in his haste to move Edward.

"Answer him, next time I won't bother separating you," Don shrugged at David's incredulous look. He quirked his eyebrow, promising his agent a full explanation later.

For a while Crabbe didn't say anything, he just stared at the table as his broken nose dripped blood with quiet little plops.

"Was it Malfoy's idea? Or someone else? Maybe daddy's been sending you letters from Azkaban? His self-righteous side lost, so make my life miserable huh? Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot, daddy died didn't he? Couldn't take the Dementors picking through his head, reliving every horrid moment of his miserable existence…"

"You prick," Crabbe muttered. "Your mud blood whore is long gone by now."

"You remember what I said I'd do if you ever called her that again?" Edward leaned over the table, his hands flat on the metal surface, his face right up in Crabbe's.

Vincent Crabbe's memory wasn't usually the most reliable, but he recalled that threat vividly, as his face lost all color he spilled out an address.

"Warehouse on Brazil Street!"

"That's twenty minutes from here," David gasped as he grabbed his suit coat from the chair back and stalked out the door, Don not far behind.

"Ummm…" Crabbe was still white as a ghost as they left him all alone with Edward, who merely smirked, as if he knew exactly what horrors were passing through Crabbes tiny mind.

"Come on," Don yanked Edward from his tough guy stance and pulled him out of the room, leaving an incredibly relieved perp behind.


	7. Chapter 7

So the past month has seen a regretful return of the twice damned tension headaches of my youth. While not a migraine, tension headaches can be just as bad or infinitely worse. It starts with the feeling of the back of your head being squeezed in a vice, and if you're lucky it stay like that all day. But if you're me it progresses into a solid sheet of pain in your temples that melts down all the way into your neck. And if you're like me you stubbornly insist on staying at work because you know that if you go home you won't have anything to distract you from that pain. Medication helps, but sleep (if you can medicate yourself into a deep unconciousness) helps more. So I haven't been writing. I haven't even thought of writing, until tonight when I was so pissed at my sister that I just started typing. I can't promise that it's any good, and thankfully with this story it can contradict what's happened in other parts because I haven't even started to make sense of everything yet. So here's the big reveal on our main bad guy... and maybe you'll see why it's been so hard for me to really get this chapter out.

Again I welcome reviews and critiques, because really, you can only make this better.

Harry Potter and Numb3rs are not mine. But I wish they were... (did you hear that Anyanka?)

* * *

"You know what's funny?" The girls voice was echoing slightly in the cavernous warehouse. It gave Don a moments rest as he realized that she sounded fine. He no longer had to worry about what had happened, she was alive, now he could focus on what had to happen.

"Hostage is against north-west wall," he hissed into his mouthpiece, then nodded as more information was related to him through his ear bud.

"Shut up, stupid girl," there was a thug flipping through a deck of cards, it seemed like he was trying to do a magic trick.

"I just think it's hysterical that you kidnapped me and now we're just waiting around, in the same city no less, for some "mysterious benefactor" so you could get paid. I mean, as far as I'm able to ascertain, you didn't even get a down payment." Helene sneered as she shook her head when he lifted a card. "No, Goyle, that's not my card."

"Damn it," the guy seemed pretty low key, unlike the tensed man in the corner, watching the others with a hawk glare. None of them had an obvious weapon, though the one in the corner was gripping a stick much like the one they had found at the crime scene that Edward said was Helene's.

As Don watched, mildly amused at the girls audacity, the back door opened and six heavily armed men emerged from the back room. Each had an automatic pistol strapped to their thighs, and assault rifles hanging from straps around their necks.

Don took a deep breath and relayed what he saw to his team, even as they gave updates of their own.

"So, do you think maybe you could let me go before he comes and kills every single one of you? He gets cranky when he misses lunch. You remember, don't you?" Helene asked the new guys.

"Shut it," the new "boss" was about Helene's age, dark hair slicked back from a pale face. He looked uncomfortable with the weight around his neck, but his hand rested on the back of the rifle as if soothing himself.

"You look ridiculous," she scoffed.

There was a stillness now, like no one dared move. Breaths were held as the man stalked over to the hostage. A sharp slap echoed with a soft gasp following.

"You don't have any idea what I've gone through because of him, because of you." He gripped the front of her shirt and lifted her slightly to growl in her face. "The only reason you are still alive is so I can make him feel what it's like to watch your family die in front of your eyes."

If he was expecting her to cower before him he was immediately disappointed.

"What makes you think he's never felt that?" she hissed loud enough for the entire warehouse and those watching the confrontation to hear. "You grew up in the same school we did. You know what went on. You know who he is, and what he did. You don't think he's paid enough?"

"Ha! Potter's never paid for what he did to me!"

"He's only ever defended himself! And he did nothing to you! Those were Death Eaters!" Helene shoved her hands against his shoulders and snarled as he released her shirt.

"He should have just laid down and died, they would have stopped then," the other shrugged. "He should have known he was outnumbered, outclassed…"

"He did," Helene interrupted. "He was, and he still won. So really, what does that say about you?"

* * *

"Yikes," Colby hissed. "That chicks got some major balls."

"Smoke screen," Don muttered. "On my mark." He'd already assigned Colby to get to the hostage, the others knew how to spread out to get maximum coverage for themselves and the widest range of shots available to take down the bad guys. All that was left was Don best judgement on when to go in.

This is why he got paid the big bucks. He waited for a few seconds as the guy hissed out his displeasure and brought his fist up under the girls chin, knocking her out of the way of any potential gun fire and distracting himself as the glass windows broke and riot control smoke screens were thrown into the warehouse. A second later, before shooting was even considered, Colby ducked in counting on the tall FBI SWAT team to distract the bad guys.

"FBI!" They shouted as Colby silently made his way to the girl and dragged her limp form to the wall, just as quickly making their way back out of the building.

As quickly as Colby got Helene out of the building he would forever be indignant and amazed at how fast the kidnapper followed them.

Even as he was getting her to walk on her own two feet she was yanked from his arms and he was down on the ground, gasping for breath. Narrowly he noticed a green light flash over his head, missing him by mere inches, as he heard the girl scream a, "No!"

Then Don was beside him, asking him if he knew the date, which he vaguely remembered answering before David took over for his boss.

* * *

Don cursed himself round completely. He should have noticed the flinch the head guy made when he dropped to the ground. Initially Don thought it meant he was affected by the smoke, but thinking back he'd seen that the man had dropped to the ground before the grenades went off. That meant the smoke didn't bother him, or incapacitate him in any way. He'd probably been right behind Colby as he rescued the hostage. Now all he had to go on was the faint scuffling as the girl fought against her abductor. Luckily she was throwing an all mighty fit, probably knowing that if she caught someone's attention it would most likely be an officer or agent considering the FBI guys at the warehouse.

Then suddenly there was a thump and a groan, and the struggling ceased. Fearing the worst Don doubled his speed and barely managed to slow enough to duck behind a corner as he saw that the one left standing was the girl.

"Harry, do you have my wand?" She asked off to the side.

Then Don noticed Charlie's student, Edward, off to the side. To tell the truth he wasn't surprised. He watched as Edward, or Harry really, handed Helene the stick they'd found at the café.

"Thanks, I feel so weird without it by my side," She kissed his cheek and leaned into his side as he put his arm around her and kicked the unconscious man on the ground. "I don't know how you do it."

Harry shrugged, "Don't really need it anymore."

"Yes, oh great and powerful leader," Helene mocked.

"Hermione, seriously," Harry squeezed her shoulder and detached himself from her side to kneel down at his opponents face. He brushed aside the dark hair and Don noticed that he flinched a bit.

"What happened Harry?" Hermione asked.

"A group of them rushed Justin's house one night, during summer break. They killed his parents first, not slowly, then cut up his little sister, and drove him nearly insane. I watched Hermione, as they laughed. As they died when his magic flared and burnt the house around them all. His sister survived, but she's afraid of him now. Justin started getting into the dark arts, trying to find a way to make them all pay. He found that last spell I used against Voldemort. He thought that if that asshole was dead it would magically fix everything." He stared down at the unconscious man and got up to his feet. "His sister still won't talk to him. Refused to even let him know when she was getting married. It snapped something in him. He decided it was all my fault for not saving them sooner."

"Harry," Hermione gently tilted her friends face so that he had to look her in the eye. "It's not your fault."

"I know," Harry replied, but obviously it was lacking something because Hermione scowled.

"Harry, it's not your fault," she repeated.

"Hermione-"

"No. You shared a dorm with this jerk for five years. He had to have woken up after your nightmares! After that slime was in your head! He used to be an intelligent man, and it is not your fault he couldn't see that you are a victim as much as he ever was!"

"He's not in his right mind Hermione. Take him back to St. Mungo's. Get him help. Tell them it's a favor for me, he'll get the help he needs."

"I can't leave yet, you have a mess to deal with here, and they won't let it go without someone to blaim."

"Well, it's too bad for them then, that the bad guy got away."

"Harry!" Suddenly a bright flash of blue light blinked out from the alley, and when the spots in front of Don's eyes let up there were only two people left.

Harry and Hermione were approaching him, hands held loosely. Small smiles on their faces.

"Helene," Harry indicated Don. "This is Don Eppes, he works for the FBI and he's the brother of one of my professors."

"Pleased to meet you," Hermione held out a hand and Don was dazed enough to let her shake it. As he stared into her eyes he got the oddest feeling of déjà vu. It was like the past three days were slipping through his mind, and for some reason the weird events just didn't matter as much anymore. "I would like to thank you for your dedication in following me. Unfortunately the man who ordered me abducted got away after I kneed him in the crotch." She shrugged, supremely unconcerned about her recent holding.

"Ma'am, we're just happy you're safe."

* * *

So there you have it. Pretty minor bad guy really. But everything else has been done. I just have to fix everything up and maybe put it in some kind of order, really decide how I want things done... but for now, hope you enjoyed this peek into my squishy head.


End file.
